Abstract

Abstract. This article argues that a close reading of friendship practices in theplays of Plautus, in light of the relevant social science and anthropological literatureon friendship, can help us establish the parameters, discourse, and behaviorsassociated with Roman friendship. Application of a new analytical frameworkfor studying such relationships in ancient literature (a “processual model offriendship interaction”) to the plays of Plautus increases our understanding ofRoman amicitia in that it marks the relationship as a precious and all too raresocial bond, fraught with paradox and ambivalence, and generative of tensions,anxieties, and asymmetries.